how to get a llc in maryland for free [Deep Research]

Last updated : Aug 11, 2022

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how to start an LLC in Maryland today you will learn about the most common ways to start your business including the correct forms you'll need how to register your LLC critical naming requirements and all other vital tips and tricks then as a bonus later on in the video I will reveal to you a trustworthy registered agent who will help set up your LLC for free so make sure to stick with me until the end the state of Maryland like other states has several specific LLC requirements there are three main ways you can start an LLC in Maryland first is the DIY or do-it-yourself process where you mostly depend on Maryland State's website the second way is hiring a professional service that practically offers more efficiency and Security in the process of creating your LLC while the third one is hiring an attorney we will skip the attorney hiring portion because that's expensive and most business owners won't need that service first let's take a look at the steps required for starting an LLC on your own step one name your business before anything else you will have to think of the llc's legal business name each LLC in Maryland must have a distinct LLC name that is not currently in use you must include the terms limited liability company or an abbreviation such as LLC you cannot include phrases such as a corporation which would lead people to believe you are a different business organization knowing if your business name is taken or not is very easy just go to Google and type in the words business entity records Maryland Secretary of State and click the first search result I also have the link in the description below for your convenience it will lead you to a landing page of business entity records in Maryland scroll down a little and you will see some search options which make checking the availability of your business name easier generally you can click the first option entity name and type in your business name for example I am typing a very common business name here best dentist which will give you a list of existing business names a unique business name will say no match is found just like this random name I typed in keep in mind that the division of Revenue doesn't check names for trademark compliance it's ultimately up to you and your business attorney to ensure that your llc's name doesn't infringe on any other company's rights Step 2 Maryland requires LLC to have a registered agent an agent has a physical address a PO Box is not allowed and is available during business hours this agent will serve as the llc's primary point of contact for receiving key legal papers tax warnings summons subpoenas and so on you can register yourself or someone in your company but I highly recommend getting a professional registered agent as they have more knowledge by protecting your company in cases of possible cracks while I agree that family members or friends are reliable enough to be trusted as your llc's agent you are more comfortable sleeping at night knowing that your agent is professional and trained to manage legal documents to avoid problems concerning Court schedules filing reports with the Secretary of State Etc besides hiring a professional registered agent is not expensive in fact there are companies that offer a free registered agent as part of your package when you form your LLC through them Inc file is a company I recommend which has this free service Inc file offers a free registered agent on your first year of signing up for their service during that free year you can already take advantage of a professional and trained agent to receive legal documents on your behalf a dashboard where you can always access the correspondence that your agent has received as well as email notifications and automatic forwarding whenever your registered agent receives documents step 3 filing the Maryland LLC certificate of formation after that you must file the certificate of formation with the Maryland Secretary of State's business entities Division and the office of the judge of probate to officially incorporate a domestic Maryland limited liability company the Maryland state filing cost for llc's is one hundred dollars for both domestic LLCs and foreign LLCs basically a domestic LLC means that you are already a resident of Maryland and you want to build a business in Maryland foreign LLC on the other hand is for people living outside Maryland but wanting to start a business or a franchise of their business in Maryland with that said most businesses would be applying for a domestic LLC you can file the certificate of formation online or by mailing it to the Secretary of State expect the LLC certification process to take approximately two weeks this is three to four days for the judge of probate and 10 days for the Secretary of State step 4 prepare an operating agreement now an operating agreement is a good idea to have in place with the other members if your LLC has more than one member although a limited liability company operating agreement is not necessary for Maryland your operating agreement should clarify how your company or business will handle big picture issues such as allocating earnings and losses and dissolving the company your operating agreement should also cover the transfer of membership interest profits or losses and distributions initial Investments decision-making Powers voting rights and management and lastly dissolving the business step 5 of file annual reports all llc's doing business in Maryland must file an annual report and personal tax return with the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation personal property division the report and return may be filed electronically through Maryland business Express MB or by mail it is due by April 15th each year you can also request an extension the annual filing fee is three hundred dollars the fee does not include any state tax liability of the LLC step 6 obtain an EIN an EIN or employer identification number is a federal tax ID issued by the IRS your EIN is used by them to readily identify your firm and tax filings all Maryland firms pay a business privilege tax and the state requires you to have an EIN to file you may also be required to provide your EIN when opening a bank account or applying for municipal permits or licenses first you have to have complete knowledge of your LLC such as your company information managing member information business address business information company details and even critical information regarding vehicular assets and federal excise taxes this is another reason why getting a professional registered agent is way more convenient as they can do this for you as part of their service now let's talk about the second option to form an LLC and that is hiring a professional formation service professional formation services do all the steps you should be doing on your own from filing necessary forms to acting as your registered agent you usually have to allocate a specific budget for this option as I already mentioned earlier Inc file is one of the best companies out there to help you form your LLC you can click on the link in the description to get acce

Thanks for your comment Jim Pain, have a nice day.
- Mirtha Heziak, Staff Member

hey in today's video i'm going to walk you through three different ways to start an llc in maryland but more important than that i'm going to share with you crucial information that's going to help keep your new business safe and protected so if you're not familiar with terms such as commingling funds piercing the corporate veil or registered agent don't worry but just know that these terms are really important and you're going to understand how they impact your llc by the end of this video the first way to start your maryland llc is to go to the maryland secretary of state's website you can find a link for the state site and any resources mentioned in the description below once you create an account you can then just go through the steps there to get your llc set up as you'd expect the state website is not the prettiest or the easiest thing to navigate but there are no fees involved except for the 100 state filing fee as of 2022 there's no way around that fee you're going to have to pay it whether you go direct through the state or an online legal tool or through an attorney the pros of using a state site are that there are no markups or upsells the downside is that they're just not laid out well for making the registration process easy in fact i think it's way more confusing than it needs to be one of the other downsides of the state site is that they don't help you keep your llc compliant and that's because the state site lacks the ability to remind you of important updates or renewal reminders i'll explain this further but first let's talk about what an llc actually is so that you can understand how to maintain it properly some people think that there's a tax advantage to an llc over a sole proprietorship but actually that's not the case the advantage of an llc is in the name itself it helps to limit your liability imagine your business in all of its assets this could be an office computers business bank accounts now on the personal side you might have a home a vehicle and your personal bank account so what an llc does is it draws a line or division between these two asset classes and that division is something called the corporate veil so if someone sues your business they can try and come after your business assets but the llc and the corporate veil protect your personal assets so they can't come after your personal home or bank account that is why an llc is so important earlier i mentioned something called piercing the corporate veil what this legal jargon means is if your business is sued the attorney suing your business is going to try and find cracks in your llc and if they can find a crack they can pierce the corporate veil when this happens they can come after your business and personal assets that is why it is so important to not only set up an llc but to maintain it so that there are no cracks now i'd like to explain why the state site just is not great for maintaining your llc and i'm going to give you three examples a great service for setting up your llc is a company called inkfile it's an online legal tool and you'll find a link in the description below that will take you to their site we really appreciate when you use that link because it helps to support the youtube channel the reason i like inkfile is that they have packages starting at zero dollars plus the state fee and one of the perks of this zero dollar package is that you get a free registered agent service for a year that's the first reason that i prefer this site over the state site so now let's dive into what a registered agent is every llc is required to have a registered agent sometimes they're called a resident agent statutory agent or agent for service of process the registered agent must have a physical address in the state your llc is set up and this person is there to help with important communication and documentation such as franchise tax forms notices of litigation tax and legal correspondence and required annual report forms basically the registered agent helps you keep your llc in compliance now if you go through the state website they just ask for the name and the address of your registered agent without a whole lot of context if you go through ink file that service is free for the first year and then 119 annually after that and you can drop or change the registered agent service at any time now another reason i like inkfile is that the state website does not help you with the federal aspects of your business and here's a good example of this so your llc is set up through the state but your ein business tax number that's set up through the irs and you can think of your ein as like a social security number used to identify your business for tax purposes so when you get set up through the state website they aren't there to help you set up your ein and if you've never done that before it can be kind of confusing in the middle tier package on ink file they will set up your ein for you i'll also include a link in the description below if you want to set up your ein yourself on the irs website now i also want to highlight that they will set you up with a business bank account and this is really important to do from the beginning and here's why not only does it just make your bookkeeping and accounting for your business way easier but you should also know if you're going to run your business through your personal checking account you are co-mingling funds and that's because you have your personal cash flow and then you have your business cash flow but it's all happening in the same account this can create a crack in your llc and that could lead to an attorney piercing the corporate veil and coming after your business and personal assets so inc file takes these things into consideration where the state site just sets up your llc the nice thing with ink file is that your dashboard helps you not only set up your llc but maintain it and keep it compliant with annual reports or forms that need to be filed as well on the screen here you'll see a video that goes further into the dashboard and what it looks like after setting up your llc there will also be a video on how to pay yourself with an llc again thank you so much for using the links in the description below and i'll catch you on the next video

Thanks PEERNEINIMEXYi your participation is very much appreciated
- Mirtha Heziak

About the author

Mirtha Heziak

I've studied magazine at The Sage Colleges in Troy and I am an expert in management information systems. I usually feel uncomfortable. My previous job was anti-terrorism intelligence agent I held this position for 16 years, I love talking about storytelling and drawing. Huge fan of Anna Faris I practice snow skiing and collect disney pin trading.